Still Taking Baby Steps

By Millie, on July 15th, 2009

I mentioned a few weeks ago that we have been on a quest to switch over to Whole/Traditional/Real Foods for a while and are slowly making our transitions. I’m pretty pleased with how things are coming along. In that post I mentioned that I had a few things going (sourdough starter, expecting a Kombucha Mother, Dairy Kefir grains, etc). Happily, I’m having great results with the Kefir and I actually made a couple of great loaves of whole wheat sourdough (and a couple of really, really heavy loaves), our first gallon of Kombucha is in the works (after an excellent quart batch), and we are now getting Grass-fed Beef from a monthly CSA.

One of the things I was still looking for in the last post was a source for whole pastured chickens. One of my friends that I have got eggs from a few times suggested that if we helped her with the ‘processing’ of a few of her young roosters we could work out a deal. So on Friday, we will be going over to her place and coming home with some chicken for our freezer. It is not something we have done before (my husband, however, has ‘processed’ plenty of game birds) and I’m a little nervous about it but am pleased to know the source of our future food.

In a couple of weeks our local farmers market will be going. I can’t wait to get fresh, local produce and I’m hopeful that I will be able to make some contacts there for large quantities of produce for canning. I’ve never canned before but Michaela tells me it is easy.

Next Monday we will be getting our first Co-Op order from Azure Standard. I’m excited about the items in my order. I pretty much stuck with the basics (grains, oils, sweeteners) but added a couple of other things. I ordered a sprouting screen and some seeds for sprouting. I’ve never sprouted before but look forward to it. Having a short growing season here in Wyoming I think that adding sprouts would be a smart thing. I also ordered organic chicken livers. This is something that I have been wanting to get not just for our diet but specifically for Christopher’s. He is just starting to enjoy solid foods (mashed or pureed) and I think that organic liver would be a good addition. Plus when I saw this recipe from Ren I had to order the chicken livers.

I started a new ferment yesterday. Beet Kvass. I’ve never had it before. Have no idea what to expect flavor wise. But have heard good things plus I like beets. I didn’t actually plan on making the beet kvass right now but at the store the other day I wanted some greens for later in the week and the beets with the greens attached called to me. So we will have the beet kvass and tomorrow we will have mixed greens of beet, collard (from my garden) and radish (also from my garden).

I have to say that I think that the best progress we have made in this is the feedback from my girls. KiKi (my 14 year old) told me how much better she feels with the way that we eat now. She even noticed a difference the weekend we were gone to Oregon to pick up our stuff (she stayed with her dad and ate out a bit). Lulu (my 12 year old) is excited to try new smoothie combinations each day. Yesterday it was Kefir, apple, banana and spinach. Each new smoothie we makes she declares “the best one yet”.

4 comments to Still Taking Baby Steps

I need to start cooking more. I'm hoping that with the rye flour I'm getting that I can find a good recipe and start making our bread from rye. (I don't do well on wheat) Tim says the bread I get now is too dry, so I need a rye recipe that has a good sweetner (honey, etc.) and is moist. Suggestions?

>JLB- That is the same response I get about the chickens. 'Plenty of people have chickens, just get eggs from them'. So I know exactly what you mean.

How about using the rye to get a sourdough starter going? Nourishing Traditions has a starter recipe using rye and then a bread recipe that you can use either spelt, kamut or wheat in. I don't know much anything about GF cooking but the recipe does look good.